Paper dispensing apparatus



Jan. 31, 1967 Q O DWW ETAL 3,301,617

PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed July 8, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l SOURCE OFPOWER INVENTORS THOMAS EGOODWIN EDWIN orr ATTORNEY Jan. 31, 1967 ooDwmET AL 3,301,617

PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 8, 1965 s R mm Mm 10 o G 4 5T A N WW m i Y v ...D M L ATTORNEY United States Patent3,301,617 PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS Thomas E. Goodwin, Ronceverte, W.Va. 24970, and Edwin Ott, Fairlea, W. Va. 24902 Filed July 8, 1965, Ser.No. 470,507 2 Claims. (Cl. 312-39) This invention relates toimprovements in a paper dispensing apparatus and more particularly tothe dispensing of paper sheets in which the sheets are defined byperforations and carried in roll form.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide for the dispensing ofpaper sheets from a roll by power, such as an electric motor, whereinthe movement of the sheet and therefore the length of the sheet ismanually controlled.

More specifically, the invention embodies a housing containing a roll ofpaper having sheets defined by trans verse perforations with a novelspaced multiple drive for the sheets to maintain transverse alignmentduring the dispensing operation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of power means applieddirectly to the multiple feed rollers thereby insuring instant directstarting and stopping of the feeding operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a receptacle suitable indimension for insertion in the wall of a building and in which provisionis made through a hinged door in the exposed receptacle front for theconvenient relacement of the roll of paper to be dispensed and thepositioning of the sheet on the roller for instant feeding of the sheetwithout a threading operation in connection with the feeding mechanism.

These and other objects of the invention will more clearly hereinafterappear by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of theinstant specification and wherein like characters of reference designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation with portions of the front wall removed;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through the apparatus; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the power supply to the motor and assembly.

The present invention includes a housing which basically has appropriatedimensions not only for retaining a roll containing strips of paper andits feed mechanism, but also which will be appropriate for seating in aconventional wall structure so that the receptacle will be substantiallyflush with the outer wall face with the exception of the hinged doorwhich projects beyond the face of the housing to provide room thereinfor a roll of paper when at its maximum dimensions which occur beforeany of the paper has been dispensed therefrom. Likewise, the front ofthe housing contains and carries with it a feeding roll which is adaptedto cooperate with power feeding mechanism contained in the body of thehousing, as will be more clearly hereinafter described.

The housing includes a back wall 1, side walls 2 and 3, top wall 4,bottom Wall 5 and spaced upper front wall section 6 and lower front wallsection 7. The lower front wall section 7 is preferably removablyconnected with the side walls 2 and 3 by the use of inwardly projectingside flanges 8 which are identical at each side and bottom flange 9which engages the front portion of bottom wall 5. Suitable fasteningmeans, such as screws 10, engage in elongated slots 11 for providingconvenient connection between the flanges 8 and the adjacent side wallportions, the slots 11 permitting quick and convenient seating andadjustment of the associated parts.

Patented Jan. 31, 1967 The upper front wall section 6 is shown as adepending flange formed by forward projection of the top wall 4 and thefront wall section 6 is bent to provide an inwardly extending flange 14to which are secured the upper leaves 15 of a hinge assembly, the lowerleaves 16 of the hinge assembly being welded to the top flange of door17. The door 17 includes side flanges 18, both of which are identicaland which abut adjacent side wall portions of the side walls 2 and 3.

The door 17 includes an upper flat portion 19 which is substantiallyflush with the depending upper portion 6 of the front wall of thehousing and a main medial outwardly offset portion 20 which merges withthe flat wall portion 19 of the door and terminates at its bottomportion at 21, the bottom portion being cut away so that termination ofthe front wall 20 is spaced from the inner marginal edge of the doorstructure and spaced, when in closed position, from the adjacent frontwall section 7, which latter section extends slightly thereabove.

Within the housing are a pair of angularly arranged bracket members 25in the form of elongated blocks, which blocks 25 are welded to the innerfaces of side walls 2 and 3 in aligned association and are each formedwith aligned open-ended slots or recesses 26 for the reception of theends 27 of a roll 28 mounting a roll of paper 28a. It is to beunderstood that this device is primarily for use in the dispensing oftoilet paper which is in perforated strip form and wound intoconventional rolls.

Beneath the supporting blocks or bracket members 25 which mount therolls of paper 28a are similar angularly arranged blocks 29 welded tothe sides 2 and 3 of the housing and formed with recesses or slots 30for the reception of the ends 31 of a drive roller 32. The drive roller32 is formed with spaced series of annular grooves 32a which receivedriving bands 33 which, because of the position of the roll in the fixedbrackets 29, project outwardly beyond the front wall section 7 tomaintain the paper out of contact with this front wall of the housing sothat it will flow freely during a feeding operation. The upper blocks 25carrying the roll of paper may be welded or otherwise secured to theinner side wall faces and are arranged at an upwardly and forwardlyprojecting angle to facilitate the insertion of rolls in the sockets orslots 26. Similarly the lower blocks 29 are fixed to the inner faces ofthe side walls of the housing at an angle so that the sockets for thedriving rollers will be convenient for replacement and repair shouldsuch an occasion occur. Both the mounting block assemblies 25 and 29 arewithin the area of the hinged door 17 so that the opening of the doorexposes both the feed roller 32 and the paper roll 28.

For driving the feed roller 32, a source of power is provided and isindicated generally as an electric motor 34 which drives a pulley 35mounted on a shaft 36 carried in a bracket 37 including a base plate 38and an outwardly extending angle 39, the base plate 38 being fixed tothe rear wall 1 of the housing and the outwardly extending angle portion39 projects therefrom and mounts the drive mechanism including asuitable reduction gear assembly and the pulley 35 which drives the belt40, which latter engages in an annular recess 41 formed in the driveroller 32 intermediate of the pair of friction driving bands 33. Theannular recess 41 for the drive belt 40 transmitting power from themotor driven pulley 35 is spaced intermediate a pair of friction bandsin a position to balance the drive roller and maintain the applicationof friction on the sheet uniform throughout the length of the drivestructure. The reduction gear may be of any type to obtain the properrelative speed of rotation between the motor and pulley.

Cooperating with the drive roller 32 and the frictional bands 33 is afriction roll 44 mounted in brackets 45 carried in each of the sidewalls of the door 17. The peripheral surface of the frictional roll 44is closely adjacent the friction drive bands 33 providing an areatherebetween suflicient for the passage of paper therethroughcompensating, of course, for the friction drive bands 33 which are madeof soft elastic material and which will distort under pressure when thedrive roller 44 carried by the door is in operating position, as shownin FIG. 4, when the door is in closed position.

The lower front section 7 of the housing mounts a switch 46 actuated bypush button 47 which closes the circuit from a source of power to themotor 34 to drive the latter and cause the transmission of power fromthe motor, reduction gear, and through the belt 40 to the roller 32.. Asshown in FIG. 4, the strip 50 is fed from the roll between the driveroller 44 as long as power is supplied to the electric motor 34 bypressure on the push button 47 which actuates the spring switch in theswitch housing 46. Removal of pressure from the push button 47 permitsthe contacts of the switch to separate and shuts off the source of powerto the motor, terminating the feeding of the strip from the roll ofpaper.

In FIG. is shown a diagrammatic view of the power system wherein theelectric motor 34 is connected with a source of power and a normallyopen switch 47 controls the power from the power source to the motor 34,the motor 34 driving the pulley 35 through any suitable reduction gearassembly indicated. Power from the pulley 35 is transferred by belt 40to the drive roller 32 carrying the driving bands 33.

The side walls 18 of the hinged door frictionally engage the side walls2 and 3 of the housing when the door is in closed position and inaddition the weight of the door and of the mounting blocks 45 tend toretain the roller 44 in engagement with the sheet 50 so that appropriatetension and proper constant feeding of the sheet is available. Inaddition, the driving bands 33 on the feed roller 32 can be replaced andlarger or smaller drive bands can be substituted, it being understoodthat these bands will be made of a resilient plastic, such as rubber orrubber composition and the like.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that the sockets in whichthe ends 27 of the roll 28 and the ends 31 of the drive roller 32,because of the inclination of the slots 26 and 30, respectively, willtend to retain their seated position, the angle of the walls of theslots providing frictional resistance against the tendency of either ofthese rolls to become displaced.

In use, pressure applied to the switch 47 will result in a continuousfeeding of the sheet 50 and removal of pressure from the switch element47 will cause instantaneous termination of the feeding of the sheet.Certain of the parts, such as the reduction gear, will be conventional,the reduction gear being indicated in dotted lines at 60 and beingsuitable to provide a speed rotation of the drive roller 32 by the belt41 which will properly feed the sheet 5 0 from its roll 28a in a mannerwhich will not sever the perforations in the sheet within the housing.Should it occur that the sheet is improperly severed within the housing,due to imperfect perforations in the sheet, the situation can bepromptly corrected by lifting the door 17 by gripping the bottommarginal edge 21 of the door and manually lowering the sheet to aposition so that it will be gripped by the drive roller 32 and roll 44.The same is true with respect to replacement and repair of the parts ofthe apparatus, the door providing convenient access to all parts of theapparatus.

What is claimed is:

1. In a paper dispensing apparatus including a housing defined by a backwall, side walls and end walls, a front wall structure including anupper section and a lower section spaced from the upper section, a doorhinged to the upper section and including an outwardly offset portionincluding an outer wall and side walls, said outer wall extending belowthe lower section of the housing and terminating in spaced relationthereto, means removably mounting a roll of paper in the upper sectionof said housing, a feed roller removably mounted in said housing belowsaid paper roll mounting means, a plurality of spaced friction feedbands removably mounted on said feed roller and extending outwardly to apoint substantially flush with the outer surface of the front wall section of the housing; an electric motor in said housing, belt meansdriven by said electric motor and engaging said feed roller to drive thelatter, switch means for connecting a source of power to said motor toselectively drive said feed roller, and a pressure roll mounted in theoffset portion of said door and movable with said door to cooperate withthe feed bands of said feed roller to apply pressure toward said feedroller to facilitate the feeding of the paper.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that an upper portion ofthe front wall of the housing and the upper portion of the door extendinwardly in parallel relation and are hinged together by a hingeassembly including a pair of hinged leaves which are fixed to therespective inwardly projecting portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 898,949 9/1908Wilks 226-402 2,924,493 2/1960 Preble 312-39 2,973,958 3/1961 Casey 226-3,210,139 10/1965 Ciervo 312 39 FOREIGN PATENTS 494,699 7/1950 Belgium.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

1. IN A PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS INCLUDING A HOUSING DEFINED BY A BACKWALL, SIDE WALLS AND END WALLS, A FRONT WALL STRUCTURE INCLUDING ANUPPER SECTION AND A LOWER SECTION SPACED FROM THE UPPER SECTION, A DOORHINGED TO THE UPPER SECTION AND INCLUDING AN OUTWARDLY OFFSET PORTIONINCLUDING AN OUTER WALL AND SIDE WALLS, SAID OUTER WALL EXTENDING BELOWTHE LOWER SECTION OF THE HOUSING AND TERMINATING IN SPACED RELATIONTHERETO, MEANS REMOVABLY MOUNTING A ROLL OF PAPER IN THE UPPER SECTIONOF SAID HOUSING, A FEED ROLLER REMOVABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING BELOWSAID PAPER ROLL MOUNTING MEANS, A PLURALITY OF SPACED FRICTION FEEDBANDS REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID